Manufacturing ProcessES

From the initial consultation to delivery on site, the stone goes through several processes at the quarry before shipping. Extraction, Splitting, Cutting and any Specialist procedures you as the customer may require.

Please enjoy the videos below that outline the processes Caithness Stone goes though before it is shipped.

Quarrying of this unique product begins on the flagbed with extraction of one of the 16 primary block layers by the lifting team. The initial process of washing and marking the bed is carried out to eliminate fissures and fractures in the primary block, the first in a series of quality control checks carried out. These chalk lines are then used as guide lines for the floor saw. The saw operator cuts the bed vertically, down to a naturally occurring horizontal seam
created millions of years ago. The primary block is then split from its bed, removed and Stored.

These 16 primary blocks are next split down into 96 individual flagstone layers. A process in the quarry which has remained unchanged for over 200 years. Each of the 96 layers of differing thickness are predetermined by nature and are dependent on what type of sediment was laid down at that time over 300 million years ago. However the consistency of Caithness Flagstone means each primary block always splits at the same point regardless of where in the quarry it has been sourced, resulting in finished natural paving with minimal thickness tolerance.

The traditional technique of splitting or ‘boarding’ of Caithness Flagstone is still carried out by hammer and bolster. The operator creates a horizontal crack by striking the bolster and then moves around the stone following the horizontal crack. This is known a chasing the crack. It is the shockwave through the stone created by striking the bolster and not a shearing effect that causes the splitting of the flagstone. The skill of the splitter is his ability to ‘read the rock’ creating enough of a shockwave to split the stone without driving the bolster in and damaging the material. Hand splitting of the stone results in a natural fine textured surface with ideal slip resistance qualities, combined with natural beauty.

While tradition remains at the heart of splitting, technology is at the forefront in the high output production line. After inspection for any hairline cracks, primary sawing is carried out on a multihead flow line. Laser guided saws with diamond tipped blades ensure precision cut widths, before passing through the sorting table where material is washed and rechecked for quality control. The stone is mechanically funnelled down to the crosscut saws to be cut to length.

Importantly, there are no stock paving products. Everything is custom cut, allowing architects complete freedom to design with Caithness Flagstone. Bespoke sizes combined with custom colour ranges means our material is equally at home on both classic and contemporary style paving schemes.

The production capacity of 90,000m2 per year not only allows for use on the largest most demanding projects but ensures lead in times are generally around 2 weeks from date of order.

After all cutting, any specialist treatments or customer requirements are applied, and the stone is given a final quality control check before being palleted, cleaned and wrapped ready to be transported to its final destination.